The Fashion Stitch – On Fabrics, Facts and Feelings

Workers’ Safety: Who’s Paying the Price for Cheap Clothing?

Listen Later
🎙️ The Fashion Stitch – On Fabrics, Facts and Feelings

Episode 5: Workers’ Safety — Who’s Paying the Price for Cheap Clothing?

TikTok hauls promise “52 items for almost nothing.” But someone, somewhere, is paying.

In this episode, host Clare Press asks: are the people making our clothes safe — and who is protecting them?

💡 We explore the urgent realities — and the possible solutions:

  • Fire, chemicals, extreme heat: the hidden health risks inside factories
  • What changed after Rana Plaza — and what still hasn’t
  • The Bangladesh Accord and how legally binding safety can work
  • New risks from climate change inside production facilities
  • Certifications and unannounced audits — what OEKO-TEX® is doing
  • Why worker safety is inseparable from fair wages and accountability
    • 👥 Featuring
    • Christie Miedema – Campaigns and Outreach Coordinator, Clean Clothes Campaign, on fire hazards, chemicals & global risk blind spots
    • Elisa Rimmele – Head of Quality Management, OEKO-TEX®, on safer alternatives & audits
    • Kalpona Akter – Founder and Executive Director, Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity, on wages, unions & consumer power.
      • 🎥 Interview with FRANCE 24 English
      🔑 Topics we cover
      • Rana Plaza: what changed — and what didn’t
      • Sandblasting, PP spray & invisible chemical threats
      • Climate crisis as a new workplace safety risk
      • Living wages as the foundation of dignity and safety
      • How legislation like the EU CSDDD could shift responsibility
        • 📌 Sources and further reading
        • Public Eye – Health and Safety in the Workplace
        • Business of Fashion – Luxury Sweatshops
        • ILO – Safety and Health at Work
        • Pakistan Accord
        • Clean Clothes Campaign – Fashioning a Just Transition: Heat and garment workers’ rights (2025)
        • Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany – Improving environmental and social standards in the textiles industry
        • Fashion Changers – 11 Years After Rana Plaza (in German)
        • Fashion Changers – 10 Years After Rana Plaza (in German)
        • OEKO-TEX® – STeP
        • FRANCE 24 English – Labour activist Kalpona Akter calls for 'living wage' for garment makers
          • 💌 Want to dive deeper?

          Sign up for the OEKO-TEX® newsletter for extra insights and updates:

          Newsletter Signup

          🎧 Credits

          The Fashion Stitch is brought to you by OEKO-TEX® in partnership with Fashion Changers.

          Concept & Script: Vreni Jäckle and Nina Lorenzen

          Editorial: Vreni Jäckle
          Cover Design: Vreni Jäckle
          Host: Clare Press
          Production & Sound Design: Studio Tongoetze

          ...more
          View all episodesView all episodes
          Download on the App Store
          The Fashion Stitch – On Fabrics, Facts and FeelingsBy OEKO-TEX Service GmbH & Fashion Changers